Jon Gruden is not riding in on a silver horse to save the day for the Raiders, though that won’t stop Raiders fans from chanting his name and praying for the day.

It’s not happening, at least under the current construct of the franchise, and the only thing that might get Gruden to consider coming back to the Raiders is if he’s named GM/president/part-owner/mayor/governor/deity-in-chief… and the new stadium is named after him and built in his image and actually serves as his guest house.

Oh, and if he’s paid $10M a year on top of that. If those things do not happen–and hmm, Gruden hasn’t actually ever proven he can run a team or manage a salary cap or run a draft or any of those nagging little things, by the way–then the Raiders’ near-future probably does not include Chucky.

So, in a non-Gruden future… what happens now? Or more literally, what happens after the final three games of the season and the Raiders look into their first off-season in a while with real financial flexibility?

I spoke to Raiders owner Mark Davis about it recently and wrote a column about it, and I generally agree with his approach–if you choose a path of “deconstruction” and you get to the point where you can finally be pro-active, you probably don’t change everything in the hierarchy now.

One vision took them into this, keep that vision for at least one year of the “reconstruction of the Raiders.” You just don’t want to keep burning through GMs and head coaches, that’s not the way to win in the NFL.

Yes, Davis has put a lot of faith in GM Reggie McKenzie, and reiterated his support for McKenzie to me this week.

Realistically, if the GM is staying, that probably means Allen is back for 2014, too, assuming McKenzie still believes in coach Dennis Allen and assuming Davis doesn’t have a major problem with Allen.

That’s all sensible. The Raiders are better off keeping both of them than starting a bad cycle all over again by firing a coach after only two seasons and then new ideas come in and maybe there’s some more deconstruction that has to go on.

Here is where my thinking is slightly different than Davis’, but the result probably is the same: He’s GM-first, and I think Allen has proven to be the stronger part of this team. But it still means you keep both.

* With what the Raiders have gone through the last two seasons, purging the roster of bad contracts and under-performers and trying to play it on the fly with cheaper short-term alternatives, either Davis has to re-do his management structure entirely (which I don’t think Davis wants to do) or go with stability.

Either keep BOTH McKenzie and Allen, or dump them both and start again with a GM to hire a coach.

Think of it this way: If McKenzie stays and fires Allen, what top-notch coach would want to come in, knowing that McKenzie could be out the door in a year and then you’re looking at a new GM who might have his own ideas about a coach?

* My main thought: I think hiring Allen is probably the best decision McKenzie has made so far in two seasons, so why un-do that one right when the Raiders can do some things with the roster?

I think McKenzie has made some mistakes–not any huge ones, though–but hiring Allen wasn’t one of them. In fact, given the state of the franchise back then, it’s sort of amazing that he got Allen to come, frankly.

Really, what coach could the Raiders hire–could McKENZIE hire–who’s guaranteed right now to be better than Allen?

Again: Don’t say Gruden. Or Jay Gruden. I don’t hire people based on their last names, and the Raiders shouldn’t either. (Though President Chucky might like Jay as his HC at some point.)

Lovie Smith would be an interesting option, but I think he’ll have better ones. Ken Whisenhunt? No. David Shaw? He’s not leaving Stanford any time soon. Winston Moss? McKenzie passed on him last time around, so why would he pick him this time?

The ol’ “better the devil you know” argument. I don’t have anything against these guys. I just don’t see any progress made, even within the context of a “deconstruction”. Exactly what have they done in the draft and FA market to place the building blocks of the future? I’m missing something here.

Dirk Suave

In my view the raiders have taken strong steps towards becoming a relevant team. If they had been able to close out games without mistakes they could easily be 9-4 right now, this year with this roster. But the youth shines through and mistakes have cost them this seasons chance. It’s all about learning as a team. Wish they would integrate more Reece into the offense and try out Pryor as a WR/QB. I think that the Raiders could be very dynamic and hard to denfend offensively if both QB’s were on the field at the same time. There are so many options to it. Don’t think they’ll ever do it but I can hope. Hope they don’t draft QB. Lots of “experts” like Manziel to the Raiders. My problem with that? RegMac had been drafting high character guys for the raiders and Johnny football is absolutely not that. So why would the Raidefs dare take him in the top 10? Makes no sense. Like DA’d job this year though. But to make it to year four he’s gonna need a playoff berth and it is not gonna be easy as the AFC west looks like the NFC west of a couple years ago when they were budding into the best division in football. Denver will be tough with Manning. ASmith is doing “just enough” to keep KC competitive and Rivers always keeps SD dangerous.

Raiderstruefan1982

Ridiculous. This writer is an idiot. You really think they should keep a GM and an HC that took a possible playoff team to a 4 and 12 team 2 years in a row?? Seriously? Are you deaf dumb and blind? Allen is nowhere near an NFL HC and Mckenzie needs to go back to Green Bay and stop ruining Raider football. These guys are not the answer and if you ask me both need to go. Give Gruden what he wants or Cowher because this team is going down a toilet bowl fast.

todd stevens

No progress. Not only that but regression down the stretch in BOTH seasons. I’m not sure if firing Allen is the answer, but he sure as heck doesn’t appear to be improving this team. With what was on the roster this year, 6-8 wins would have been very realistic. Now the franchise is very likely staring 4-12 in the teeth again. Not good, even in the bad situation they were put in financially and in other ways. The nfl has to many financial considerations to consistently stick with 4-12 coaches, the loss of revenue is too great.

Bryan Betts

How the HELL do yo know Kamakazi

Bryan Betts

Always has, and always will be an idiot..and a Raider hater, and a 49er lover….jerkoff

Ern

I think everything Tim writes is correct, cant say i like it but its all true. what is the point of hiring a new coach and gm? they would come in and turn thing around again. another off-season of interviews and new staff. which means new schemes and new personal. then who really wants this job. like Tim said to think that Jon Gruden is gonna be walking up and down the sidelines next season is a dream. any other coach is gonna laugh at coming to Oakland. Any of the free agents the Raiders have will definitely want to leave. yeah that would be awesome another 2 year coach it would only make it the 8th head coach since 2002, yeah the record may suck but you never know what would happen in the 3rd year. wouldn’t a 3rd year for Cable, Jackson or even Norv woulda been interesting. let it ride i say. whats the worse that can happen, another top 5 pick.

DKnight007

Waste of time keeping Allen as head coach. I would rather have Whisenhunt or Darell Bevell, or Del Rio. The team lead by Allen has regressed….badly as the season came to a close. Especially his defense…..ugh